Christmas is one of our busiest times at Bowman Ales, as people like to have a tipple over the festive period. It’s an old tradition but just how old?
Well, it wasn’t just the Romans that did a lot for us, it was those pesky Vikings! Way, way back in the very distant past and before Christianity, one of the most important celebrations was the Winter Solstice or Jul. This gives us the word Yuletide and as the 21st of December is rather close to the 25th, this word was appropriated to be used at Christmas.
I suppose that when you are used to charging around raping, pillaging and doing what Vikings are supposedly famous for, the idea of Christianity may seem a little bland. At the time, the man in charge and the first Christian ruler, King Haakon I, decreed that in order to spice things up a little, each and every household would not only have to brew a beer but also throw a proper party!
Now this isn’t going to be anything like the beer we sip, guzzle or throw down our necks each Yuletide. For one thing it would be strong, very strong. They didn’t have the special yeasts that can control the amount of alcohol produced, so had to rely on wild yeasts that frankly, just don’t know when to stop! Also, all sorts of stuff would be added, particularly fruit such as plums and wild berries which made the wild yeast go crazy on the fructose and become unstoppable, rather like the Vikings themselves!
To make the beer bitter and less like a fruit wine, bittering herbs would be added. Especially one called Bog Myrtle. Good at bittering and it would also help to clear this evil brew a little. Even so, it was probably thick enough to stand a menorah candelabra up in. Fast forward a few thousand years…
The taste for a Christmas tipple did not go away and the big family brewers all produced a festive ale. This was always strong and somewhat sweet and would have been brewed way back in the summer and then matured in wooden barrels until it was put into smaller casks or bottles. Anything left over or unsold would just be watered down and called something else!
Here at Bowman Ales, we always like to buck a trend, so our Christmas Ale is not thick, cloying or stupidly strong. It’s very pale and brewed with the finest and most horribly expensive Vienna malt, together with continental hops, Saaz and Perle. It’s dry and refreshing, a not scary 4.5% abv and a British slant on a Bière de Nöel. It’s called AMERIGO, which is the name of St Nicholas’s horse. But you knew that…. Didn’t you?
Compliments of the season to you all, have fun and please drink responsibly and not like a Viking!
From everyone at Bowman Ales,
God jul!